


Different Eyes

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Love Languages [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: But Nicky's pretty much the textbook definition of Still Waters Run Deep, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Feels, Gen, I didn't expect it to be quite this deep, Immortal family, M/M, So I suppose I shouldn't be surprised
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25743052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: Nicky's smile widened briefly. “But Joe sees me with different eyes than the rest of the world.” (Set some time after the movie, and a few hours after "Unspoken Poetry.")
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Nile Freeman & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Series: Love Languages [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1867204
Comments: 43
Kudos: 1094





	Different Eyes

Joe and Nile came back from the market later than they said they would, but no later than Nicky had expected. The man he loved had strong views about the proper way to shop for things, and Nicky had known he wouldn’t be able to resist discussing them in detail with someone who hadn’t heard his explanations a thousand times. To accommodate this, he had told Joe that lunch would be a full hour before he and Andy were actually expecting to eat it.

He had equally expected the kiss Joe greeted him with upon their return to the apartment Copley had rented for them. When in a suitably passionate mood – a common occurrence, with his beloved – Joe tended to respond to any separation as though they had not seen each other for decades. They had never _actually_ been separated that long – the most had been four years, three months, and 27 days, against both their wills and acutely painful for every moment – but Nicky always welcomed Joe’s enthusiasm like the gift it was.

What he had not anticipated was the way Joe simply held him after they had broken the kiss, wrapped up so close that he could feel the steady song of Joe’s heartbeat through his own chest. Nicky could feel the memory of something more serious in his touch, too much so for what should have been a lighthearted morning at the market, and though he held him back just as tightly his gaze slid to Nile’s for an explanation.

There was understanding in her eyes, but she just smiled and showed off the bracelet with delicate wooden flowers Joe has bought for her. Joe’s grip eased a moment later, the lightness back in his voice as he explained that it had been a reward for her patience, and the two started into a banter-filled debate over the appropriate amount of time to select tomatoes. Nicky, who had joined in several such debates over the centuries, just smiled and let the solemnity of the earlier moment pass.

They followed him into the kitchen to begin preparing their meal, the debate continuing unhindered as Joe began chopping the tomatoes and Nicky washed and chopped the basil for the pesto. When Joe got pulled away by Andy’s return to the apartment – Nile handled most of their tech now, but he and Joe had both gotten pretty good at video calls in the last few years – Nile quietly stepped in to take over his task.

After a little while, she broke the silence that had fallen between them. “I’m warning you now, you don’t want to let me anywhere near a stove. My mom used to say I could burn water.” She let out a breath, weighed down by the solemnity of grief. “It was always my job to help her get the food ready. Chop things, stuff like that.”

Nicky felt the flicker of an old longing pass through him, the fantasy of what it might be like to cook with his own child, then pushed it aside. “I am sure you were a great help,” he said quietly, looking over at her. She just nodded, too much sadness still in her eyes, and so he deliberately lightened his voice as he began grating the Parmigiano. “Joe will not admit it, but he is also good at burning things. He gets too distracted to pay attention properly.”

That made her smile a little, expression easing into amusement. “Probably too busy composing poetry about you.”

Nicky sighed, his own lips curving. “He did it today at the market, didn’t he?”

Her smile widened as she reached for another tomato. “You should probably be careful if you’re ever the one who goes with him. He talked about you a _lot_ , enough that you’ll be instantly recognizable to at least half the vendors if you’re both standing together.”

Nicky shook his head, amused. “They will simply want to tell me how lucky I am, or ask if there is any chance they can steal him away. The first I know as well as I do my own breath, and for the second I am happy to disappoint them.”

“Some of them might try to steal _you_ away,” Nile countered, a teasing light in her eyes. “He talked you up pretty good.”

He made a dismissive noise as he chopped the pine nuts, adding them to the mixture. “Or they will accuse him of being too dramatic and giving them all false expectations.”

She stopped, watching him with a curious expression. “You know you’re hot, right?” she asked finally. “I mean this in a completely platonic, older brother/grandpa who somehow ended up in a 30-something body kind of way, but anyone who’s at all into guys can see you’re attractive. You have to have picked up on that at some point in the last 900 or so years, right?”

He shrugged. “I have been called ‘pretty’ before, when I was young. It wasn’t meant kindly.” The ghost of old ache rose up, nameless and faceless after all these centuries but still not entirely forgotten. “I was a younger son sent to the priesthood. Any fineness in my features was wasted.”

And that was the better option, though he would not weigh Nile down with that knowledge.

She frowned, brow lowering. “That sounds like a quote.”

Joe had not been anywhere near that delicate when Nicky had first said something similar in his presence. The anger simmering under Nile’s comment, however, was very much the same. “I’m sure it was, but I no longer remember who said it. It was simply a fact.”

She abandoned her board entirely, moving closer to him. “But you had to have run into artists since, right? I’m sure they were all crazy to paint you during the Renaissance, even if Joe didn’t actually let any of them do it.”

Nicky shook his head, leaning back against the counter. “A few artists have said I had an interesting bone structure, but I’m quite sure they only asked me to sit for them because Joe promised to buy the paintings afterward.” He smiled a little. “I preferred the artists who wanted to paint Joe. I’ve built up a considerable collection of my own, over the centuries.”

Nile, however, refused to be distracted. “I’m sure Joe’s drawn you.”

“Many times.” His smile widened briefly. “But he sees me with different eyes than the rest of the world.”

“I think that’s how it’s supposed to work.” The words were almost a question, tone gentle but penetrating. “And yeah, he can get a little crazy with the whole poetry thing, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.” 

Nicky’s chest squeezed tight, love and memory all tangled up together. “When he first complimented me,” he said finally, voice soft, “I thought he was mocking me.”

Nile let out a breath like she was watching someone take a punch. “ _Nicky._ ”

He shook his head. “I am making it sound worse than it was. I knew that I was a good fighter, skilled in ways many people were not. People had called me kind when I went out performing acts of service. I knew I had value.”

Nile’s voice was still so gentle. “And then you met Joe.”

“And he killed me, and I killed him. Many times.” His lips curved again, marveling as he always did that some memories could remain so clear even after nearly a millenia. “Eventually, we became compatriots. There were many divine mysteries we both had to wrestle out, and it seemed wisest to us both that we do it together.”

Nile nodded. “That’s pretty much what Joe said.”

“To this day I still do not know the exact moment when we became friends, or when it grew into more than that in my heart.” He had not been at all familiar with the feeling, labeling it ‘brotherhood’ even when it had grown far beyond all possible boundaries of the term. “But we had been traveling together for some time when we sat together by the fire one night. I said something about the stars, I don’t remember what, and he told me that I ‘shone brighter than the most vivid star the heavens had to offer.’”

Nile gave him a curious look, then sudden understanding filled her expression. “Ooooh. You thought it was the whole ‘You’re an idiot if you actually believe this exaggerated compliment’ thing.”

“Essentially.” He swallowed. “I reacted poorly, Joe was hurt, and we fought for the first time in many months. It took me far too long to explain why I had reacted the way I did, even though he was far more fluent in Genoese and Sabir than I was in Maghrebi. When I finally managed it, he stared at me as thought I had insulted his name and family for the past five generations.”

In that moment, it had finally hit Nicky that Joe had been entirely sincere with the comment. He’d immediately been afraid, certain he’d ruined a bond that had already been the best thing in his life.

“I am sure he wished to yell, or stab something. Instead, he took my face in his hands and told me I had been surrounded by fools who hadn’t understood the treasure Allah had blessed them with.” He’d touched Nicky like he was holding something precious, his eyes full of so much emotion that even remembering it made Nicky have to blink back tears. “He did not know how my God felt about art, but that I was such a masterpiece he could believe that Allah himself had been behind my creation.” He swallowed again. “I had spent most of my life surrounded by people of faith, but never in all that time had I heard such _certainty_.”

“And so you believed,” Nile said softly.

Nicky let out a breath. “In him, if not in myself. He deserved poetry in return, but emotion overwhelmed me so completely that all I could do was kiss him.”

“Silent poetry,” Nile murmured.

Nicky’s lips curved briefly. He wasn’t exactly sure what she meant, but it sounded like she was quoting Joe. “We made love for the first time that night. Everything I had been taught said it was wrong, but touching him felt holier than anything I’d ever done.” He pushed away from the counter, wiping his eyes. “From that moment on, Joe took every opportunity possible to make it clear how he felt about me. Always in my own language, so that I would catch all the nuances of his adoration.”

Nile sniffed, wiping her own eyes. “So it’s your fault he’s spouting poetry all the time.”

That surprised a laugh out of Nicky. “That it is.” He bowed slightly, hand pressed to his heart. “My most humble apologies.”

“I’m _way_ less annoyed with you than I would have been if I hadn’t heard the story first.” She darted forward suddenly, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tight. “And just so you know, I suddenly want to go back in time and punch a _lot_ of people in 11th century Genoa.” 

Nicky hugged her back, throat tightening. “My champion.”

“Actually, _I_ am Nicolo’s champion,” Joe said from the doorway, his own eyes somewhat misty. “But I would welcome some backup.”

He and Nile broke apart, both wiping their eyes. “Well, Mr. Champion, the backup Nicky and I need right now is for someone to help us do some chopping,” Nile said. “We got kind of distracted with the storytelling.”

“Your fault.” Nicky pointed a finger at Joe. “You make me emotional even when you’re not in the room.”

Joe grinned. “As you do me, cuore mio.” He stepped into the kitchen. “Come, assistant champion! Let us compare knife skills.”

Together, the three of them went back to work.

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my [original fiction,](https://jennifferwardell.wixsite.com/mybooks) my [blog,](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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